Posts Tagged ‘Majanka’

It’s the end! After five long weeks, thirty long days, we’ve finally reached the end of NaNoWriMo. And guess what? Even if you reached your word count goal or not, you can still consider yourself a winner because, no matter how many words you wrote down, you wrote down something. You made some progress, and that alone is worth being celebrated.

We’re all winners today. Congratulations to everyone who participated in NaNoWriMo, and a double congratulations to everyone who reached their goal, whether that was writing a 10k novel or a 100k novel. Congratulations!

We’re in week four of NaNoWriMo, and that finish line is creeping closer as we speak. But… Will we make it? Here are some tips and tricks to survive the fourth week of NaNoWriMo.

If you’re ahead, keep going

If you’re ahead of your targeted word count, congratulations! Now, keep going. No dilly-dallying, no focusing on other stuff, keep on writing! That you’re ahead doesn’t mean you’re there yet, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve failed right before the finish line, and I don’t want the same thing to happen to you. Be glad you’re ahead, but keep going, and don’t take any breaks until you’ve hit that marvellous finish line.

2. If you’re behind, time for a sprint

Years ago, NaNoWriMo’ers already started with word sprints, where you write as many words as you can in fifteen/twenty/thirty minutes, or even an hour, in an effort to get that word count up. Join other NaNo’ers for a word sprint or a word sprint weekend to get back on track. There’s power in numbers, and if you have other people participating too, it’ll be that much easier to reach your goal. Try the @NaNoWordSprints twitter account if you’re looking ofr other authors joining in the sprints too.

3. Keep on going, don’t give up

No matter how far you’re behind, now is not the time to give up. You’ve come this far already, don’t give up now. Even if you’ve only written 10k words so far, try for 15k. If you’ve only made it to 5k, push until you reach 10k words. You don’t have to reach that big 50k goal, any progress is progress, but now is not the time to give up.

4. If you’re getting bored, add more conflict

If your own book is starting to bore you, don’t worry, it’s perfectly natural. That’s mostly because you already know the grand resolution, the big ending that is going to tie it all together, and that takes away the tension for the author. A good way to get un-bored is by adding more conflict to your story, adding different layers, and overall, making the story more complex and intriguing. Find a way to fall in love with your story again.

5. Take it one day at a time

Don’t stress over NaNoWriMo too much. If you didn’t get your desired word count yesterday, don’t fret about it again today. Let it go, or the whole experience will have you more stressed out than anything else. Instead, focus on your progress, and be proud of any progress you’ve made so far.

I hope my tips were helpful to those of you participating in NaNoWriMo. Good luck, and see you at the finish line!

It’s NaNoWriMo Week 3 and chances are high that you’re either still going strong, typing up those words, adding those subplots and racing toward the end… or you’re stuck. Utterly and completely stuck.

Well, no worries, I’m here to help. Here are some tips and tricks that I’ve used myself every time I felt like I got stuck in a novel.

Are you stuck because you can’t decide?

Sometimes you’re stuck simply because you can’t decide. You have to make a decision in your book and that decision is so daunting you don’t know if you can make it. For example, in “The Soul Thief,” I had to choose whether two characters would kiss in the book or not, and I really struggled with it. Eventually, I made a choice, but it took me several weeks just to make that choice.

If you already have an outline, it might help you not to bump into this obstacle. If you don’t, it could be helpful to make an outline, and then to look at the path your protagonist still has to make before he/she meets their end goals. Then, ask yourself: what decision should I make now that will ultimately bring the main character closer to their end goal? Decide with that in the back of your mind, and it’ll be easier for you to make a decision.

2. Look at the plot from one of your character’s point of view

This sounds a little strange, but I’ve actually done it before and for me, it worked. Try looking at the plot from your character’s point of view. This could be your main character but it could also be one of the supporting cast members. If there’s a conflict you can’t resolve, or a situation you can’t decide on, try putting yourself in a certain character’s shoes and see if he/she can come up with a solution.

You know that saying that sometimes if you look at something from a different viewpoint, using a different set of eyes, you might get a better understanding of the situation? Well, this is exactly that.

3. Add a plot twist

If you’re stuck, it might just be because your story is too boring. Especially in the middle of a book, if there aren’t enough subplots, supporting characters, or not enough tension and drama, your plot might just seem too boring. If everything is going great and everyone is happy, then obviously you’ll have a hard time as a writer because that’s obviously dreadfully boring to write about.

So, add a plot twist. Add a subplot. Add a larger supporting cast (although try not to make it too large, or you’ll be in trouble too). Spice up your plot. Subplots are strange creatures. They can actually add energy to the main plot, give a reader a different angle to look at the main plot and ultimately make a main plot even more interesting than it already is.

Plot twists do the same. If a reader thinks something is going to end up a certain way and then it doesn’t, that recharges the book’s energy and makes the reader long to go back to the main plot and find out more about it.

4. Re-activate your hero

Another reason why your plot could be in a slump is because your hero is too passive. Passive heroes are dreadful. If everything keeps happening to the hero and they don’t really respond to it, they just let it happen, then they’re just being boring, and no one likes a boring hero.

Your story might also seem to drag, and you might also be stuck because the stakes simply aren’t high enough. If your main character’s end goal is to win a football competition at the end of the book, consider if this is the highest your stakes can go. Maybe if he/she doesn’t win, he/she will lose a scholarship. Or his/her parents’ approval. Or their boyfriend/girlfriend will not want to date them anymore. Raise the stakes and your plot will be stronger, and rather than drag along, it will speed ahead.

We’re halfway! If you’re stuck in your story, I hope some of my tips helped you. Good luck, and race you to the finish line.

It’s NaNoWriMo Week 2 which means that, if you’re still on track, you’re now reaching the dreaded middle part of your book. I don’t know about you, but I hate writing the middle part of a book. It seems like I magically make it to 20,000 words, then I panic, the plot fails, the characters abandon me, and I know where I want to be at when I’m at 50,000 or 60,000 words, but I have no idea how to fill in the middle part of the book. Or even worse, I know how to fill it in, I just can’t get the words on the page.

If you’re not suffering from this mysterious illness where you dread writing the middle part of a book so much you start to worry you might never make it to the end, congratulations. But for most of us regular folk who struggle from middle-of-the-book-syndrome, here are some helpful tips to get through it (mostly) alive.

Outline, outline, outline

I’ve said it before but when you have an outline that is strong enough that you can hold on to it when things get tough during writing, then your outline is your lifeline. You don’t know what will happen next? Your outline knows. You lose track of where you’re supposed to be headed when writing your plot? Your outline knows.

For Marisol Holmes, most of my middle arc relied on building up tension and trying to solve the mystery, it involved dropping clues about the mystery and meanwhile showing off minor characters. It was, as it’s with most of my books, the hardest part to write (in comparison, I find it much easier to write the ending of a book, or the beginning) but it’s where the character develop, where we get minor resolutions, where the reader gets to connect with the characters. Don’t rush through the middle of your book, but polish it until it shines…except not in NaNoWriMo, where time is off the essence. Here you can rush, rush, rush, just make sure it still works.

2. Add minor subplots and find resolutions for them

You can fleshen up your middle part of the book by adding minor subplots and preferably, also giving resolutions/endings to these minor subplots. For example, if a minor subplot of your book is that characters A and B are fighting over something stupid, you can have them resolve their argument in the middle part of your book, so that is out of the way for the grand finale.

In “A Study in Shifters”, my subplots mostly included character relationships, Marisol finding clues and trying to connect the dots of the case she was working on.

3. Add minor characters

This is especially important if you’re writing a series but works for a single book as well. There’s no use introducing all of your characters right at the start of the book. You can keep the introduction of minor characters for the middle part of your book.

4. Raise uncertainty about your character’s goals

Another often-used plot device is to raise uncertainty about your character’s goals. Take a romance book for example – in the beginning the characters meet or if they’re already in love, everything is going fine. The middle part of the book is used to build tension, and is usually the part where the characters are driven apart, and in the end, they usually get together again.

For Marisol Holmes, solving the case seems daunting in the middle part of the book, nearly impossible. The reader might start to wonder if she’s ever going to solve the case at all, thus doubting the character’s goals.

5. Add plot obstacles

When it’s easy for your protagonist to get from the beginning to the end of your book, to reach their goals without much trouble, then your book won’t be very exciting. Instead, use the middle part of your book to add minor plot obstacles. This could be things like misunderstandings between characters, physical obstacles, but it can also be the main character dicovering his/her goals might be different than he/she first thought as well.

In “A Study in Shifters”, some of the clues Marisol finds make her question her previous findings. She also learns some unsettling news that forms an obstacle for her too. These minor plot obstacles carry the plot along and add some tension.

I hope these tips help you battling middle-of-the-book-syndrome and urge you to keep on going with NaNoWriMo. Good luck!

It’s NaNoWriMo! As usually, I’m participating in this event. I’ve been participating for the last five years and although I didn’t always win, I usually do. This year will be extra tough, though, since I’m also starting a new job in November. So, finishing that novel in one month will be extremely difficult, but I like a challenge, so I’m going for it.

To help everyone participating in NaNoWriMo (and to help myself too, of course), I’ve put together a handy list of tips and tricks.

Set your goal

Back in the old days, NaNoWriMo meant writing a 50,000 word novel. But now, the rules are slightly more relaxed. 50,000 is still the norm, but if your novel will be 60,000 words, or even 100,000 all of that is allowed. In fact, the more words, the better! My books are usually between 60-80,000 words. I never quite know beforehand how long the book will be, but I do have a general idea, so I have to plan accordingly. Writing 50,000 words in one month is about 1,667 words a day, but if you’re writing a longer novel, then you’ll have to pen down more words a day.

Don’t stop writing when you’ve reached your quota

Surprisingly enough, I see many authors who call it a day once they’ve reached their desired quota for the day, either 1,667 words or more. Don’t! Why would you not continue to hit that next mark, maybe 2,000 words? And if you’re still feeling inspired, nobody or nothing is stopping you from hitting 5,000 words or more in a single day. The quota is there for the days you might not be able to write, the days you might not hit that mark because life happens, or because your inspiration is gone, or God knows what else. But if you’re feeling inspired, keep writing!

Make an outline

I used to just write. I didn’t have an outline, at most I had a vague idea of who my main characters and what I wanted to happen. Now, I always use an outline. You can’t fast draft without one, really. When you’re feeling low on inspiration, when you don’t know how to get from point A to point B and you only have thirty days to finish the book, then you don’t have a lot of time to sit around and wait until inspiration hits you and you find a way to bring your characters to the desired point. That’s where your outline is your lifeline. It will help you find inspiration, come up with ideas, and it will keep the path straight when you don’t know what should happen next, or forgot your end goal, the outline is still there.

Stray from your outline – sometimes

However, although I’m all for outlines, I don’t think you should see it as a Holy Grail. You can derail from the outline from time to time. When you have a marvellous idea, when the characters demand a certain scene, when you find an even better solution to a problem, there’s no reason why you should stick to your outline no matter what. This is part of the creative process, and it’ll make your novel so much better if you just follow the path creativity takes you on, without hanging on to that outline for dear life.

Turn off your inner editor

This is an important tip too. Turn off your inner editor. Even when you’ve caught a typo on the sentence above the last one you just typed, let it go.”Ain’t nobody got time for that” is your new life’s motto when it comes to NaNoWriMo. You don’t have time to go back and edit and re-edit that paragraph until it shines, you have to continue on and write your next paragraph, or you’re not going to make it.

So, there we are, my tips for NaNoWriMo. I’ll have some more NaNoWriMo tips and news for you next week. Meanwhile, for those of you participating in the event, good luck and happy writing!

Writing The Adventures of Marisol Holmes, I had to do a lot of research, not just into the different species of shifters that would appear in the book, but also on other rather mysterious topics. One of those topics was ciphers.

The Jefferson disk, or wheel cipher as the inventor, Thomas Jefferson named it in 1795, is also known as the Bazeries Cylinder. It’s a cipher system, or code system, using a set of wheels or disk, each with the 26 letters of the alphabet arranged around the edge.

The order of letters is different for each disk, scrambled randomly. Each disk has an unique number and a hole in its center that allows it to be stacked on an axle. The disks can be moved on the axle in any order desired, and can also be removed. The order of the disks is known as the cipher key.

The Jefferson disk had 36 disks that could spell a message. The disks are placed on the axle, and then the sender rotates each disk up and down until a message is spelled out on a row. For example, one row could spell out: The murderer is Mr. X.

Then, the sender would have to look at one of the other rows, which will contain a message that is complete gibberish. He copies down this message, and gives it to the recipient, the person who he wants to break the code.

The recipient then rotate the disks until they spell out the encrypted message on one row, the gibberish message, and then looks through all the rows until he finds the plaintext message: The murderer is Mr. X.

Today’s post is a little different. Rather than sharing trivia with you about the shifters appearing in The Adventures of Marisol Holmes, I wanted to touch upon a more difficult subject. Writing tough scenes.

Sometimes, scenes are tough because you struggle while writing them. Action scenes are often like that. You need to visualize what the characters are doing, the way they move, what they do at presicely what moment. As such, for a lot of authors, action scenes are difficult to write. But today I’m not talking about scenes that are difficult to write because they’re complicated… I’m talking about writing scenes that are tough to write because writing them… hurts.

While editing A Study in Shifters, I had to add in a scene that features Marisol Holmes and her father, and the scene hit close to home for me. Without giving away spoilers, in the scene Marisol and her dad pretend to be Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. It was tough for me to write that because it reminded me a lot about my own father.

My father passed away when I was seven years old. My fondest memories of him were when we played “Robin Hood”. Whenever we played that, I was Robin Hood, and my father played just about every other role there was: the evil Prince John, Robin Hood’s sidekick Little John, and a bunch of other characters we came up with.

Writing that scene with Marisol Holmes and her father, reminded me so much of what I used to play with my own father, that it really hurt to write that. It hurt, but at the same time, it also made me happy, because people able to conjure up the fondest memories you have of a person, and then being able to incorporate them into a story, is a wonderful way to honor a person. I’m sure my father would’ve agreed with that. He loved books and always encouraged me to read and write.

Even though it’s been twenty years since my father passed away, it makes me happy to know the memories of the person he was still inspire me, and that he’s still close to me, even now.

Writing The Adventures of Marisol Holmes, I had to do a lot of research, not just into the different species of shifters that would appear in the book, but also on other rather mysterious topics. One of those topics was invisible ink.

One of the earliest writers who ever mentioned invisible ink is Aeneas Tacticus, in the fourth century BCE. Invisible ink has been used for centuries, and was particularly popular in the Roman Empire and 16th century Europe.

Invisible ink can be applied on a writing surface in many different ways, sometimes even just by dipping a finger in the liquid. Once dry, the written surface will look blank, and otherwise perfectly similar as how it would look prior to being written on. The ink can then later be made visibile using different methods, depending on the type of ink used.

One of the most common ways to display invisible ink is by viewing it under ultraviolet light, by applying the appropriate chemical, or even just by putting it under a heat source. Whoever thinks you need a complicated chemical balance to create invisible ink, would be very wrong. Some organic substances oxidize when heated which turns them brown. You can even try this at home.

Any acidic fluid will work for this drink, but some suggestions are coca cola, honey solution, sugar solution, lemon / apple / organge or onion juice, wine, or even milk.

Here’s a quick tutorial on how to make invisible ink using lemon juice:

Use the juice as ink by applying it to a stick or paintbrush, and then writing on paper.

Wait for the paper to dry.

When you’re ready to read your invisible message, hold the paper up to a lightbulb or another heat source.

The heat will cause the writing to darken to a pale brown.

You can now read your message!

Give it a try, and feel free to email me a picture of your invisible ink experiment.

In this week’s post, I’m going to talk to you about one type of shifter species in The Adventures of Marisol Holmes series that we haven’t discussed yet. Spiders. In the books, the mortician / coroner is a spider named Mormont.

Spiders are arthropods, meaning they have eight legs. They also have fangs that inject venom. There are at least 45,700 spider species and 113 spider families. That’s a lot of species! On top of that, spiders are found worldwide on every continent except Antarctica (so for those of you who have arachnophobia, like I do, let’s head to Antarctica!).

Male spiders have complex mating rituals to avoid being eaten by the females of the species. Males usually survive a few mating rituals in their life. Females weave silk eggcases after mating, each of which may contain hundreds of eggs. Females will often carry their young around or share food with them.

Social behavior among spiders is often complex. Some spiders such as the widow spiders are solitary creatures, but other spider species hunt co-operatively, or even share food.

Some spider species have venom dangerous to humans but most venom is harmless. Spiders use it to hunt their prey (not, contrary to popular belief, to hunt down human beings at least a hundred times their size). Spiders capture their prey by creating sticky webs, which they then manipulate to capture prey. When a prey is captured in their web, they inject the prey with venom, paralyzing the fly / bug / whatever else insect they captured.